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If your development organization is using .NET Core 2.0, ASP.NET Core 2.0, or Entity Framework Core 2.0, you may have less time than you think to upgrade to the latest version if you want to be running supported software. The end of life for all of them is October 1st, 2018, less than three months away. The end of life brings an end to support, which means an end to bug fixes and security updates, so this is an important deadline.

.NET Core 2.0 was released on August 14, 2017 and its end of life date was originally scheduled for September 1st of this year. On June 20, 2018, Microsoft announced that support for 2.0 would be extended to October 1st due to a bug.

Microsoft has been advancing .NET Core technology at a steady pace since its introduction in mid-2016 and the release cadence creates a corresponding pressure on developers to upgrade promptly if they want to be working with the current technology. The release schedule also puts pressure on development organizations that need to be running on supported software for compliance reasons.

.NET Core 2.0 was a significant advancement for .NET Core, one that brought stability, performance, and substantial new features. But it was issued as a Current release, rather than a Long Term Support (LTS) release. This means that:

1. it is a version intended for applications under active development and

2. under the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy, its supported life span ends three months after the release of the next Current or LTS version.

.NET Core 2.1, the most recent Current release, was made available on May 30th, 2018, along with Entity Framework Core 2.1 and ASP.NET Core 2.1. Because EF Core and ASP.NET Core were released as part of the .NET Core release, their lifecycle follows that of the parent release, so they all turn into a pumpkin on October 1st.

A quick glance at the release notes linked above shows a wealth of improvements to be had in moving from the 2.0 to 2.1 version of these frameworks. And a quick glance at the .NET Downloads page shows a steady cadence of patch level releases for version 2.0 since its introduction. That means a steady pace of bug fixes and security updates coming to an end on October 1st. 

If your application is in development you need to keep pace with the Current release. Doing so gives you access to the latest features and fixes. It also keeps you in support. If an application is no longer in active development, stabilizing on a LTS release is a better choice; they offer three years of support after their initial release and fewer changes.

Server administrators, hosting companies, and those providing Windows Server Platform as a Service (PaaS) resources should also take note of the October 1st deadline. To support applications developed with the .NET Core Current release, they'll need to have the corresponding .NET Core 2.1 Runtime installed to support framework-dependent deployments.

It's time to get moving.

Why one more technical blog?

At the most basic level, as some scientists think, the desire to help others seems to be innate. Producing technical writing elsewhere provided some evidence this website can be useful and appreciated. 

One Mission

So how can we help? We think we can do the most good by focusing on a single mission: helping our readers reach the next level of professional expertise as software developers. That means helping get your job done by helping you solve the problem at hand, but also doing so in a way that helps you be more prepared to tackle similar challenges on your own. It means explaining the best way to get the job done, when there is a consensus, and explaining the alternatives when there isn't. In our post and articles we want to place why on an equal footing with how. The path from journeyman to master is as much about learning why as it is learning how to solve a programming problem.

This effort is also born of experience as a consumer of technical writing. In many cases that experience was one of frustration at inaccurate, incomplete, and badly written information about topics that were critical to getting the job done. The search for information and the struggle to make sense of it was time we didn't need to spend and can't get back. Helping others overcome the same obstacles seems like a good way to give back to the community, in thanks  for the good material that's already out there, and to help raise up the community so there is more good information everywhere.

Guiding principles

As the concept for this site was coming together some principles emerged to hold the whole thing together. They are the structure that supports the reliable delivery of useful information.

Write what you know

Although there is a good argument why the maxim to "write what you know" shouldn't apply to some types of writing, it's probably safe to say writing about technical matters should be constrained by an author's modest assessment of what he knows. Writing what we know will always be a foundational principle of this website.

Know your audience

There is another aspect of knowing that is also relevant: knowing the audience is as important as knowing the material. It's in knowing the audience that much technical writing fails. In many cases IT writing is aimed simultaneously at experts and novices, and succeeds only at causing exasperation or confusion. This perspective is the product of direct personal experience, mostly as a novice audience. Accordingly, we intend to keep a specific audience profile in mind for each technical article we publish.

Stand on the shoulders of giants

The depth and breadth of information technology is both inspiring--there's always something new to learn--and daunting: there's always something new to learn! Our successes are built on the inspiration and toil of others who have had a profound influence on the field, and our future in it, even if we don't know their names. Accordingly, we will give credit where it's due and when someone has already written well on a relevant topic we won't ignore their work, or try to duplicate it, we'll highlight it.  

Acknowledge the contributions of others

We will also cite our references. We think the background research from which we built our solutions should be documented and shared. Part of the value of our technical articles is providing you with a curated list of references so you know where to go next as you take on challenges on your own.

Stay relevant

"If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more."

      -- Gen. Eric Shinseki, USA, Ret.

One of the hardest ongoing challenges of an IT professional is keeping up with change. Likewise, we recognize that keeping up with change will be one of the most difficult challenges of maintaining our library of technical articles and companion repositories. We expect our way of keeping up will evolve along with the material itself.

Be humble

While we are striving to provide information that reliably reflects best practices in software development, we know we don't know everything and we are as fallible as anyone else. Accordingly, we will encourage discussion, provide a forum for doing so, and incorporate reliable suggestions into our work.

Give thanks

We hope you'll find the site helpful and we look forward to hearing from you in the comments and on GitHub. You can also reach us with non-public comments if you need to. 

Now let's get started!